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Lego Lord of the Rings review: Well-suited to fellowship of all gamers

It&rsquo;s great to be able to hear Ian McKellen&rsquo;s Gandalf or Viggo Mortensen&rsquo;s Aragorn illustrating things alongside the player.

Go skulking into dark territory in LEGO Lord of the Rings.

By Matt DemersSpecial to the Star

Fri., Nov. 16, 2012

LEGO Lord of the Rings

(out of 4)

3DS, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PC (Reviewed on 360)

$50

Rated E

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Having developed numerous adaptations of classic franchises like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Batman, it only seemed natural that the LEGO series of games would arrive at Lord of the Rings. It delivers much of what made the other games great, including something new: full use of voices from the Lord of the Rings films.

Unlike previous LEGO games, where the scenes are often mimed out by the characters, this game’s cut scenes now feel similar to a true representation. While there’s a lot glossed over in an effort to keep the story moving, it’s great to be able to hear Ian McKellen’s Gandalf or Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn illustrating things alongside the player.

However, when you first start playing, it can be a bit unnerving. Unlike the other LEGO Games, the subject matter with Lord of the Rings tends to be a bit more on the mature side — dying and corruption figure prominently — and part of the previous games’ charm was being able to act almost in self-referential parody. Hearing Frodo’s death screams or Gandalf’s serious tone can provide a strange contrast with the usual background gags — sometimes LEGO Lord of the Rings’ cutscenes can make it feel less of a LEGO property and more of an excuse to use sound bites.

Gameplay is extremely similar to its predecessors, however, with combat consisting of a mix of quick-time-events and gratuitous button-mashing. Playing with sword-and-shield characters may be a bit frustrating due to having to put yourself in harm’s way in order to score hits — losing bits of LEGO currency when you need to respawn may have you switching to ranged characters if you want to keep your loot. There also seems to some of the same platforming issues that are present in the previous titles: missing a jump due to a camera angle while trying to get to a collectible can be irksome.

That need for completion represents why the LEGO series has been so successful: it provides tangible goals to complete on multiple play-throughs, and encourages you to re-explore areas once you’ve acquired the appropriate skills. All through the beginning portions of the game there are scattered rock formations that can only be broken by Gimli. Coming back and discovering where they lead proved extremely satisfying.

However, younger players may just be content with plowing through the game to relive the story. This is fine, as they won’t be left wanting for things to do. The game spans all the films, and has huge set-piece battles like the Battle of the Hornburg (also known as Helm’s Deep); it’s here where the full voice acting starts to shine, as it captures moments that were great on film in the game engine for precisely the same reason. Sometimes caricatures simply cannot replicate the gravitas of actors.

Ultimately, the game benefits from appealing to many different audiences: younger gamers who appreciate the films and the books will enjoy the relative ease of the gameplay and older players will enjoy the relative accuracy to the script.

Both parties can spend hours collecting, building, improving on records and generally having a good time — they can even do it together, with the game’s co-operation-friendly mechanics. LEGO Lord of the Rings respects the source material and provides many hours of enjoyment; it’s not perfect, but for an all-ages romp through Middle Earth, it doesn’t have to be.

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